cross IndiaIt is that time of the year. The entire internet eco-system wants to read Mary Meeker’s annual internet report. This year there has been a substantial focus on India (55 slides – slide 232 to 287).

Internet penetration is at 27%, 355 million of 1.3 billion in India are online (there is still a lot of room to grow, good news).

72% of these 355 million (255 million) internet users are < 35 years old.

Broadband subscribers can be far higher provided telcos start providing high-speed broadband across India, even in a city like Bengaluru we cannot get high-speed broadband in all localities. We need a Minister dedicated to infrastructure which will help grow Internet usage in India.

Local Language Content in Digital India

While the consumption of local language content has indeed grown, a lot more needs to be done in this space. Govt of India needs to embrace local language more aggressively. VCs in India yet to give the importance it deserves.

Banks, ecommerce sites, mobile apps – all of them need to add local language support. Only then the real utility of local language can be seen.

Nearly 50% of the 355 million internet users in India consume local language content.

Startups, Funding in India

The majority of big funding has gone to ecommerce in India. While startups did attract a decent amount of angel funding, it was not the case when it came to Series A funding.